Construction begins on Chatham stretch of ATT

Construction has begun on the 4.7-mile Chatham County section of the American Tobacco Trail, including the bridges over Panther and Northeast creeks. Barring significant delays, the stretch should open June 5, making it possible to take the trail from its southern trailhead in New Hill in western Wake County north almost to Durham's Streets at Southpoint Mall, a distance of 14.2 miles.

The 4.7-mile Chatham County stretch of the ATT  includes revamping two old rail bridges for pedestrian use.

The stretch will be done in four phases, says project manager Joe Godfrey, a parks planner with Cary. (Cary is managing the project for Chatham County, which doesn't have a department to handle such projects.) Those sections are (from south to north). Although the project will be done in phases, it will officially open as one.

From the Wake line north to New Hope Church Road, the trail will resemble the ATT in Wake County: 12-foot wide crushed gravel screenings; from New Hope Church to the Durham line, it will be a dual trail: one 10-foot-wide asphalt strip next to a 6-foot-wide path of crushed screenings. The bridges — over Panther and Northeast creeks — will both be 12-foot-wide wooden bridges.

When the Chatham stretch is complete, the 22-mile ATT will have only one missing link: the mile or so from south of Streets of Southpoint north to N.C. 54, where the trail picks up and runs 6.5 miles to downtown Durham. That missing link includes a pedestrian bridge over Interstate 40, that Durham is planning.